The pilot of a small jet that crashed into a Murphy Canyon neighborhood in dense fog last month, killing all six people on board, was on an instrument approach to Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport when he clipped a power transmission line no higher than 95 feet in the air, federal investigators said in a report issued Wednesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s four-page preliminary report confirms much of what investigators said in the days after the May 22 crash. They said a lighting system designed to guide pilots as they approach the Montgomery Field runway — a different system that the lights that run along the edges of the runway — had been inoperable when the plane went down.

But the report reveals those runway approach lights had been down since March 2022, and that repairs and replacements had been delayed because of an environmental review. It also notes that all other runway lighting was working at the time of the crash.

The report goes through the final approach of the Cessna Citation S550, which took off in New Jersey and refueled in Kansas before heading to San Diego. It was less than two miles from the Kearny Mesa airport when it went down around 3:45 a.m.

Pieces of the tail were found about 200 feet down range of the power line. The debris field was about 1,200 feet long, stretching across brushy terrain and the residential neighborhood where the plane hit the ground.

“That’s four football fields,” said Max Trescott, a pilot and the host of Aviation News Talk podcast. “That tells you that the airplane is continuing to fly as it was losing parts and ultimately crashed.”

The plane’s wreckage slammed into the military housing community, hitting the corner of a four-plex and sending debris and fuel down a street, igniting 20 vehicles. Families quickly fled the crash site. Eight people on the ground suffered minor injuries.

The pilot and five passengers were killed. The Cessna was owned by David Shapiro, who was a licensed pilot and believed to be flying, although the NTSB report does not name the pilot.

The report recounts steps the pilot took as he approached Montgomery Field, checking in with air traffic controllers as he neared the airport. The controller advised the pilot that the Automated Surface Observing System — a system that provides airport weather conditions to pilots — was out of service, and the pilot said he was aware. A NTSB investigator in May told reporters the system was out because of a power surge.

With that weather reporting system down, the controller gave the pilot readings for Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, four miles to the north. He was also given conditions at other airports in the region. The pilot kept going toward Montgomery Field.

Also inoperative the morning of the crash were the runway alignment indicator lights, which had not worked for more than three years. Information about the equipment’s status was contained in a notice to airmen, known as a NOTAM, which pilots are supposed to consult before flights.

The runway alignment indicator lights are a series of flashing lights that extend from the runway toward the incoming plane. The lights serve as visual rails for pilots as they land. Trescott said the lights are “invaluable” in poor visibility conditions.

According to the NTSB, the pilot was based at Montgomery Field. The preliminary report does not indicate whether the pilot was aware that the runway approach lights were down.

The report says that as the pilot said he was three miles from the airport, seven clicks of the microphone button could be heard, “consistent with an attempt to activate the pilot-controlled runway lighting,” the report said. That indicates he tried to turn on the runway lights, which are different than the inoperable lighting system.

As he continued toward the airport, the pilot dropped below the published minimum crossing altitude and continued to fly lower until the plane hit the power transmission line, the report said.

The preliminary report does not indicate a cause of the crash. The final report is expected to take up to two years to complete.

Authorities said those killed in the crash included 42-year-old Shapiro, the plane’s registered owner and co-founder of a San Diego-based music agency called Sound Talent Group; Emma L. Huke, 25, a booking associate at Sound Talent Group who grew up in Orange County; Kendall Fortner, 24, who went to work for the company as a booking associate soon after graduating from San Diego State University in 2021.

Others included Celina Marie Rose Kenyon, 36, who lived in Carlsbad and was a professional photographer;  Dominic Christopher Damian, 41, a San Diego resident who was a devoted martial artist who had opened his own jiu-jitsu school and had worked as a senior software engineer; and Daniel Williams, 39, a well known drummer for Ohio metal band The Devil Wears Prada and software engineer.

Originally Published: June 18, 2025 at 8:20 PM PDT